Kho Bo So 1

Must try: beef jerky, the mini dried crabs
No California relative to bring you beef jerky? No problem! Get the best Vietnamese jerky at Kho Bo So 1, located in the Kim Son center in Chinatown. Their name translates into #1 beef jerky and it’s true!
They have a plethora of dried fruit, squid, shredded pork, variations of flavor on their original beef jerky, and… Mini dried crabs. These little crabs are crunchy, a little sweet and have a little kick from the Chili. Everything in the store goes great with your favorite beer so you really can’t go wrong.
Just let the boss man or boss lady know which one you want and the amount (they price per pound) and they will package it for you. They do take credit cards :)

Best jerky place outside of California and Vietnam. The people are very nice and they take cards, which is a big plus since we were visiting the area. They’re very helpful and will let you try anything and everything from tamarind, to spicy, to squid, and everything in between. Each time I go, I end up spending 50 – 60 easily.

This place has a large selection of dried fruits that I like. The lady owner is nice and knowledgable but the last time I went in, a very young lady checked me out and over charged me. I pointed out the mistake but the young lady and this guy did not make any attempt to fix it. I bought the prunes that were 12.99 lb and was charged the $ 15 one. Disappointed in the way the situation was handled.

Turns out they did have the dried green mangoes. I asked the wrong person. I’ve been back twice since,

If there were a HIGHER rating, I would give it. This Jerky is a perfect 10! I am a native Jerky raised gal and nothing I have ever tasted in Jerky world can come close! Why I love the Viet cultural experience. They understand how to preserve their culture and influence through fusion many other cultures. Fantastic and my new favorite food product. Thank you Hho Bo! Well worth every penny as the quality of ingrediets shows!

Kho Bo So 1 translates to #1 Beef Jerky. Like a kid in a candy store, I go directly to the left wall where all of the jerky varieties await. Let’s see, there is curry beef jerk, traditional jerky, spicy jerky, shredded cuttlefish, crispy dried «crabs», dried squid, etc. and what’s nice is you are free to try a piece before ya buy. When a decision is made, it is sold by the pound. Typically, premium jerk costs around $ 20−23/lb!
On the center aisle and the other wall there are sweet treats like dried fruit, candies, jellies, gummies, you name it! Oh, and they also sell great cans of pâté’!
Every trip to Houston includes a stop here, ending with a minimum $ 100 spent to take home goodies for friends and family.

This place reminds me of a place when I lived in Cali. I really like it. They have lots of variety and you can get a quarter of pound of the product. The guy working was very nice and let us try everything we wanted and even recommended other items to us. I will be back here on my next trip to Houston. And maybe even place a order from them to ship it to me.

This place is awesome! The store’s name roughly translates to #1 Dried Beef Jerky lol. But anyway, they sell loads of dried goodies. Jerky (squid — mild, medium, spicy, cuttlefish, beef, etc), dried candies, dried fruits, and more. The lady who was running the store was adorable. They offer free samples of anything you wanted and you must purchase a minimum of half a pound of your choice. However, half a pound of good, fresh beef jerky doesn’t last [me] long! I wanted to buy a lot more food, but it would’ve been way too easy to spend a lot more than I need to here.

This is the place to go for authentic Vietnamese beef jerky and every snack food imaginable. It is super clean and everything is in neat rows of large candy jars and bins. It looks like a candy store but here you will find some exotic and delicious pickled and candied fruit, all kinds of fresh seasoned beef and deer jerky from lemongrass to spicy chile pepper jerky. I popped in after eating next door at Crawfish and Noodles. I highly recommend this place if you are looking for delicious jerky for snacks or for a nice Vietnamese papaya salad. I left with several pounds. It’s hard to find jerky this good outside of Cali… not anymore. Yay!

Yikes, I easily drop a huge chunk of $$ here every time I visit because they offer such variety that I can’t resist getting treats for my family also, and I have a very large family!
My favorites so far are the tamarind candies, the salted plums, and the beef jerky. They have a variety of each kind but the tamarind I chose are soft with a little bit of sweet and a good hint of spicy. The salted plums are super soft (not overly dry like most preserved fruits), white, and nicely balanced for both saltiness and sweetness. The beef jerky, here I get a little bit funny. The fruit stuff is for my mom (s) but the beef jerky is all for me. They have about every kind imaginable and for all levels of spiciness, I especially enjoy their beef liver jerky. Yum.
They have a wide range of preserved, salted, spiced, pickled, or sweetened fruits. Many of the fruits I have pending on my «must try» list. Mangoes! Persimmon! Guava! I-don’t-even-recognize-that-fruit-name! And the owner is a very nice lady who encourages I try out any item I want, a good sales lady knows when she’s found an easy mark :)
Some of the items seem pricey for the per lb price, but do you know how long a lb of preserved, dried, salted, or jerked product will last? I will usually buy a lb of several different items just to make the price calculation easier (on myself), then go home and divey up the goodies between different branches of the family.

Very nice/​helpful people. If you don’t know much of what they have, they’ll tell you what it is and if they personally like it and also let you try all you like. It is a bit pricey but overall really good place.

I love in north houston but I’ll drive all the way to china town for some of their yummy jerky!
My husband loves thier jerky so we stock up everytime we go.

Love their tamarind and chilli candies! Awesome!
I also tasted their dried fish, but I pretty much will just stick to their candy.